I had just cracked open a drink when the fish came up. I set the brew on the bait tank, buckled in as a tuna slurped the bait, lifted the 80-wide Tiagra out of the holder and went to work. My beer was still ice cold when we gaffed the 192-pound yellowfin.

That short, effective fight depended on the 200-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon leader, 40 pounds of drag and a true winch of a reel. But the gear doesn’t matter if you don’t use it right, and that means using its power to hurt tuna instead of yourself. I’m a big guy and I’ve caught hundreds of tuna over 100 pounds, but size doesn’t matter. I’ve seen little old ladies use the right techniques and catch fish much bigger than I ever have. My friend caught a 300-pound yellowfin on stand-up gear when he was 78.

Use a Harness and Pad to Fight Big Tuna

The key is a good harness and pad, and the ability to use it. One of my favorites is from AFTCO, designed by Greg Stotesbury. Stotesbury’s stand-up experience, like mine, is grounded in the San Diego long-range fleet. No offense, East Coasters, but most of you don’t know how to use a harness. Here’s how it works.

If you learn anything here it should be this: When fighting a fish, you should feel all the force transferred by the harness from the point of your hips down. You want the belt around your butt, not the small of your back.

In preparation, wear the harness before the bite. Wait until the fish is solidly hooked and pulling drag before you put the rod in the belt and clip in. Many fish are lost early when folks fumble with their gear instead of fighting the fish. Once you are fastened to the fish, attitude is everything. Stay calm and relaxed. Don’t let adrenaline and bad form hurt you.

How to Fight Tuna in a Fishing Harness

Proper form means good posture: Put your left hand on the reel to guide the line, with your right hand on the handle. Keep your back straight, and bend your knees enough to distribute the pressure across the tops of your quads and your backside.

Modern composite rods do all the work when kept at right angles to the rail. When the tip comes up, wind it back down. If you can’t turn the handle, switch the reel to low speed. Can’t keep up? Go to high speed. Don’t impart wild pumping motions. Instead, focus on the rod tip. Call out deep color when you see it, and wind the fish up to the gaff.

Safety Tips for Fighting Big Tunas

A couple of safety notes should be added. Every tuna is an individual, and where the hook ends up influences how the fish acts. Yellowfin tuna hooked in the upper jaw by the snout are notoriously squirrelly. You have to be prepared to react to the predictable and unpredictable, and that often means getting out of the harness.

Use S-hooks instead of clips to attach the harness to the reel lugs so you can get out quickly if necessary. And remember to back off the drag ­(gradually, don’t dump it into free-spool) when you need to get the rod out of the gimbal pad for maneuvers such as keeping the line out of the props.

How to Gain Line When Fighting Big Tuna

When you sit back and put on a lot of pressure, a fish will often run out high in the water column. Enjoy the fact that now the fish is on the losing end of the energy equation. This is the only time you can take a breather. When the fish stops, bear down on it. Try to get a turn on the handle, going to low gear if necessary.

Tuna will often respond to the ­pressure by diving in the direction of the boat, which provides you the opportunity to win back a bunch of line with no more effort than turning the handle. Be ready to go into high gear when the fish sounds, and take that easy line.

Once the fish goes into the final stage of the fight — straight up and down — it’s time to really put on the heat. Stay in one spot and keep the rod straight out from the rail. The tuna’s tail beats are reflected in the pumps of the rod tip as the fish circles — the more pressure, the tighter the circle. The tip of the rod will come up as the fish leaves the inside (closest to the boat) of the circle. That’s when you get those precious feet of line with several quick turns of the handle to bring the tip back down and keep the fish moving up. Don’t waste energy by stubbornly trying to turn the handle when you stop gaining line.

Most important, stay relaxed so you reserve the burst of energy and sharpness of mind that is usually called for at the end of the fight. Sometimes, a truly mean fish will say to hell with this and bust a big move. The telltale is an irritated shake of the head. You have to be ready to respond and follow. It’s usually over soon after that — one way or another.

The post Tuna Fishing with Stand Up Gear appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Although Capt. Shane York is a regular at his local gym, at least a portion of his body-builder’s physique can be attributed to an annual run of bull redfish at an expansive bay near his favorite south Louisiana port. Every year in the late summer stretching through the fall, mature reds invade the flats in the lower Barataria Basin, and absolutely engorge themselves on bait stocks that must be seen to be believed. York is always there to greet them, armed with soft-plastic paddle tails under corks.

“You can throw whatever you want, and they’ll hit it, but that cork makes it pretty much a guarantee,” he said.

York has been kind enough to invite me to experience the bull-red blitz the last two seasons. Last year, we left predawn out of Myrtle Grove Marina, and caught them until neither of us could bear the thought of reeling in another fish. That was at 8 a.m. All the reds were pushing 40 inches.

“The smallest bull we’ve caught out here so far this year was 35 inches,” York said that morning.

Two years ago, I absolutely wrecked my biceps reeling in bull after bull, including my personal best, a 44-inch fish. Although mature redfish conduct their spawning duties in deep passes along the coast, that’s not where York finds the fish when they’re in feeding mode. He hunts for extensive flats of uniform 3- to 4-foot depths that hold bait, and when he finds one, success is almost assured, regardless of water clarity.

“We catch them out here in absolute chocolate milk,” he said.

The run coincides with the migration of white shrimp leaving Louisiana’s marshes this time of year. York releases every bull he catches, but if you were to cut open one’s belly, it would be jammed full.

Bull Red Drum Eat Speckled Trout

“You would find a lot of shrimp, but you’d also find some speckled trout,” he said. “They feast on those little speckled trout.”

In fact, the trout are such a significant part of the bull reds’ diet that York knows he’s in the right area when aggressive specks and white trout are the first to yank down his cork. Many of the specks are under Louisiana’s 13-inch minimum size limit, but some are solid keepers. York doesn’t mind putting those in the box if his clients want to take some fish home.

Often, diving seagulls give away the location of productive flats, so York said it pays to always be observant. He had just recently discovered the flat that produced so many fish for us last year.

“We were fishing one area, and we were moving to another area,” he said. “As we were driving across the flat, we saw two huge blowups right next to the boat. We stopped, put the Power-Pole down, made two casts and immediately doubled up.”

York’s favorite color lure is black with a chartreuse tail, but he also has success with white and straight chartreuse. He will be putting all those colors to use for the next few months. Once the fish show up in late July or early August, they stick around for a while.

“They’ll be out here really good through October or November, but you’ll still have some stretching into December,” he said.

By then, York will surely look even more ripped.

The post Louisiana’s Late Summer Redfish Blitz appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

The water along the upper Texas coast usually stays too murky for sight fishing, but on this particular late fall day, it looked crystal clear in the tiny canal that runs along Highway 87 in Bridge City. I saw flounder everywhere. I could see some as sandy outlines on the bottom; others aggressively blasted toward the surface, feeding on shrimp. Certainly, this would be a flounder fisherman’s dream come true. Not so. I offered multiple baits as I walked along the canal’s edge. The flounder refused all of them.

Use Smaller Lures When Flounder Won’t Bite

Having just returned from a crappie-fishing expedition, I still had a medium-light-action spinning rod rigged with fluorocarbon line and a 2-inch curl-tailed grub in the back of my truck. A curl tail is my favorite flounder lure but this one was half the size of my normal presentation.

Out of desperation, I walked back to the truck and grabbed the rig. Then, I waited for one of the feeding flounder to move. The first cast produced nothing. But the second one scored and so did the third. By the end of the day, I had released 17 flounder.

That unexpected windfall happened in late November, just after the peak of the fall flounder migration into the Gulf of Mexico. On that day I learned a valuable lesson that allowed me to score on quality flounder during the run as well as successfully extend fishing efforts into the winter.

A few years back, a gentleman named Ben Jarrett outfished me on a redfish trip by using a tiny topwater when I was throwing a super-size Super Spook. “Elephants eat peanuts,” he said, echoing the familiar expression. To this day that serves as a reminder that sometimes I need to downsize gear to catch big fish.

While big flounder sometimes eat large mullet, they seem just as satisfied eating 100 tiny menhaden. They ambush prey, so they tend to feed on what the currents bring them. In the late fall and winter, that’s often tiny baitfish and crustaceans.

Light-Tackle Flounder Fishing

My favorite rod for this application is a medium-action Abu Garcia combo spooled with 8-pound-test fluorocarbon line. Fluorocarbon features the same refractive properties as water, and is killer for catching flounder in clear water in particular. It also offers better abrasion resistance than monofilament.

For general flounder fishing, I actually prefer braided line, especially when pursuing big fish. I normally use 50-pound SpiderWire on medium-heavy-action rods. However, when using microplastics, I need a finesse approach. Yes, I lose a few with the light tackle but I get far more bites than on the other rigs, starting about the third week in November through Valentine’s Day.

Soft Plastic Baits for Flounder Fishing

My favorite micro lures include the 2-inch Mr. Twister Teenie (in pink for off-colored water or luminescent for clear water), and the Mr. Twister Sassy Shad in the 2.5-inch size and in clear silver-flake/black-back. Mr. Crappie’s Shadpole Curlytail in the salt-and-pepper color and the Bobby Garland Baby Shad in the eclipse or hologram-ghost patterns also work. All of my small lures for flounder come from the freshwater world, which shows we should not limit ourselves to a particular section of the tackle shop.

If the water looks dingy, fish obnoxious colors like pink but if it’s clear, use natural colors. Flounder are very visual fish and sensitive to tiny changes in water clarity and lure-color presentation.

I rig small plastics on a 1/16-ounce jighead and crawl them slowly across the bottom. If you feel a hard “thump,” count to two and set the hook. If you feel a slight tap on the line, wait about 10 seconds and then set the hook. Sometimes flounder simply grab a lure and hold on. Give them a few moments to move the lure inside their mouths.

How to Find Flounder Late in the Season

To target late-season flounder, look for canals and shorelines that provide the fish with quick access to deep water. When temperatures fall, these holdover flounder move into deeper, warmer water but come back shallow to feed as temperatures rise. Generally speaking, the southern half of a bay system and channels leading to the Gulf produce best.

When you start hearing about anglers catching big trout along the spoils in ship channels and around deep-water drop-offs, go to those same locations and look for flounder. Both species seem to move from deep to shallow water at similar times.

When south winds push slightly warmer water in from the Gulf, fish the rising tide for good action. Slight variations in temperature can make a huge difference to flounder. Any south-facing shoreline can also be good on days with strong wind because baitfish push up against the banks.

As fall segues into winter, fish slow. If you think you’re fishing too slow, you’re probably not fishing slow enough. Start with a super-slow approach, and then if you’re not getting bit, speed up. The fish don’t scatter at this time of year, so locate fish and focus on an area with a high probability of catches. Once you establish a bite, fish slowly and be aware of their delicate strikes.

When to Keep Flounder and When to Release Them

Flounder are super popular all along the Gulf Coast, but some issues have erupted for the stock due to rising Gulf water temperatures, commercial pressure, and other factors. In 2021, Texas instituted a closure to all flounder harvest from Nov. 1 to Dec. 14, making the fishery catch-and-release only during this time. I release all flounder measuring 20 inches or more any time of year and recommend other anglers do the same. The greater number of big, breeding-size fish we put back, the better chance for quality flounder fishing in the future.

Due to the incredible taste of flounder, anglers generally consider them a prize for the table and don’t generally release them as they do snook or speckled trout. But flounder deserve the same respect. Keeping the smaller, legal-size fish to eat and releasing the big ones has worked for other species and can help ensure the future of the southern flounder.

The post How to Catch Flounder With Micro Jigs appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

The exceptional swordfishing off South Florida sometimes gets lost in the hustle and bustle of Miami’s and West Palm Beach’s dazzling lifestyles. But many offshore fishermen want in on the action, and they’re quickly realizing the fishery outshines anything happening on the mainland.

Just miles off the coast are clean blue waters and deep-water humps that attract juvenile and adult swordfish year-round. Even though the swordfish are there, specialized tackle is required to catch them in depths deeper than 1,000 feet.

Before heading out by yourself, consider chartering one of the many exceptional captains that target this deep-water billfish on a regular basis. I asked top pros Capt. Dean Panos and Capt. Jay Cohen to talk about their techniques and experiences offshore. Ever since long liners were kicked out of the Florida Straits, fishermen continue to report increased catches and larger fish on a regular basis. Use the tips below to better prepare for your next trip:

What’s your basic rig for nighttime swordfishing?

Panos: At night, we fish strictly conventional reels. You can go with either 50s or 80s. I use a 2-speed reel and a custom stand up rod with a short bent butt. The reels are loaded with 80-pound monofilament ending with a short double line via a Bimini twist. I then add a 50-foot wind-on leader of 250-pound test. (If fishing strictly IGFA regulations, then the wind-on is cut back to 25 feet.)

At the end of the wind-on is a crimped ball bearing swivel. At the other end of the swivel, we crimp a bait with a short 5-foot section of 250-pound-test monofilament leader. On the wind-on, toward the top, I floss two loops. One is for the weight (usually 32 ounces). The other is 5 feet away from the lead to attach a light.

How many lines do you use at night for swordfishing?

Panos: I fish 5 or 6 rods at night. My first rod is usually a live bait — either a blue runner, goggle eye, tinker mackerel, or speedo. Those are my baits of choice. The live bait is flossed onto a 9/0 J hook. The floss is through the eye cavity, but not through the eye itself. Floss the bait on tightly so the hook doesn’t have room to swing and hook back through the bait.

I drop the first rod down 300 feet. All my rods have floss loops on the line at 100, 200 and 300 feet. At the 300-foot loop, I attach a buoy. On the stick of the buoy. I add Cyalume sticks so I can see the float. I float this rig out at least 150 yards or more.

The second rod is a dead squid rigged with a 9/0 hook and that is dropped down 200 feet, float attached, and floated out about 100 yards. The third bait is a live bait or a dead squid dropped down 100 feet. A float is attached and drifted out about 50 yards.

Next, I fish a “tip” rod in the stern corner with a squid dropped down 300 or 400 feet. The rod tip aims straight off the back corner. (A tip rod is one that does not have a buoy or jug attached to it. The line goes straight from the tip of the rod into the water.) I fish a second tip rod with a live bait down about 100 feet; this is usually hooked with a live bait and is fished off of the bow.

Depending on moon, current and other conditions, I may fish a flatline with only a light, live bait and no lead. I usually fish the flatline when there is no moon and the swords are higher in the water column.

How does daytime swordfishing differ from nighttime trips?

Panos: The daytime fishing is completely different. You basically drop a single bait to the bottom in 1,600 to 1,800 feet of water and reel it off the bottom 50 to 100 feet. The daytime fishery has been better in the past couple of years.

What’s your basic rig for daytime swordfishing?

Panos: For daytime fishing, I prefer to use a Penn Hooker Electric 80 electric/manual combo reel. The Penn Hooker Electric reel has a handle that works both in low and high gear. If you do get a bite, you can manually fight the fish with the handle. On the other hand, the reel also has an electric motor, so if you need to check the bait or relocate, you can use the electric portion of the reel to bring up your rig.

The reel is loaded with 80-pound braid. That is attached to a 150-foot wind-on leader of 250-pound test. At the end of the wind-on, we crimp on a ball bearing swivel. Then, we crimp on our bait that’s on a 5-foot section of 300-pound test and attached to a 10/0 or 11/0 hook.

At the top of the wind-on is a floss loop, which is securely tied to the mono section to ensure it does not slide. I attach a 10- to 12-pound lead weight with a snap onto the floss loop. The lead is tied to 5 feet of 60-pound-test monofilament.

On the wind-on, about 15 to 25 feet from the bait, I use two flashing strobes. These are passed through the line and secured in place with rubber bands. When you do get a fish close to the boat, these lights will slide through the line, allowing you to bring the fish right up to the swivel section. The rubber bands are used to keep the lights from sliding as you drop your bait. I prefer two strobes: one green and the second blue.

The Buoy Rod for Swordfish

Besides the primary “tip” rod, we also use a secondary “buoy” rod. The buoy rod has specific rigging to accommodate the buoy. After letting out 1,600 feet of braided line, we have a wind-on leader rigged, and that’s where the buoy is attached. Some anglers use rigging floss to attach the buoy, but heavy pressures on the buoy and floss can break the connection. So we don’t use the rigging floss.

The downside of the buoy rod is that an angler can’t re-drop or re-deploy the bait, as with the tip rod. But a buoy rod does allow a second bait presentation in a different location than the primary rod. The bait on the buoy sits as high as 600 to 800 feet off the bottom due to currents and boat drift. Let’s say a swordfish is hanging 300 feet off the bottom, it’s likely to eat the bait on the buoy rod.

What are you looking for on the depthfinder when swordfishing?

Panos: In Miami, we fish a drop-off between 1,200 and 1,600 feet of water at night. During the daytime, the depths range from 1,600 to 1,800 feet. This area has a ridge with lots of ups and downs on the bottom that in turn create upwellings and usually hold bait. Bait is usually squid, deep-water sardines and sometimes tinker mackerel. Inshore of the ridge is usually pretty flat bottom and offshore of the ridge it drops off to 2,000 feet.

The key is to keep your bait near the bottom but avoid snagging the bottom. We usually fish offshore of the ridge in areas with less ups and downs on the bottom, but with areas that do have large humps and depressions. You seem to catch more fish in the front and just behind most of the holes or mounds. You need to watch your depth recorder and adjust your bait up and down keeping close to the bottom but avoid snagging the bottom.

What are the top swordfish baits?

Panos: During the day, we use baits that are fairly durable and can withstand a sword’s brutal attack. We often used bonito strips rigged Panama-style with a large skirt over them. We also use dolphin strips, bonito bellies, dolphin bellies, squid tentacles, eels, or dead squid stitched well to the hook.

What’s the average size swordfish caught off South Florida?

Panos: My biggest fish to date is 605 pounds. That was caught during the day. At night, the biggest fish was around 460 pounds. Average size swordfish during the day is 100 to 300 pounds, and average at night is 50 to 200 pounds.

What is your favorite color of swordfish light?

Panos: Although the color of the Lindgren Pitman swordfish lights that we use are really not a factor, I favor blue, green or purple, as well as a tri-color light (blue/green/white) and a two-color light (blue/green) at night.

Backward “Back” Trolling for Swordfish

Cohen: We typically have to fish through the strong Gulf Stream current, so South Florida daytime swordfish fishermen have developed a few specialized techniques. We deploy the rig into the water facing north. As we pay out the, line I will run the boat north at about 10 knots with the current. Once the bait is below the current, about 600 feet down, we stop our forward movement.

Next, we spin the boat around to the south and start heading into the current. The goal is to get the line straight down off the back of the boat. Once we hit the bottom we bring the bait up about 100 feet. Every few minutes we will pay out line to find bottom again, then come back up 100 feet. Sometimes when the current is running fast we will have nearly 3,000 plus feet of line off the reel to hold the bottom in 1,800 feet of water. Eventually you find the “sweet spot,” the amount of line belly that keeps the bait in position.

The ultimate goal is to have the bait trolling just above the bottom at about 1.5 knots. To achieve this we will move the boat south into the current at about 1.5 to 3.5 knots. The net result is the boat and bait will be going north or “backward” at 1.5 knots.

To maintain this all day I like to use my electronics. I will set my chart plotter with a course line and an indicator telling me were I will be in two minutes. This helps me maintain a proper course and speed at a glance. Once I find the right heading that keeps us moving the correct direction against the current and prevailing wind I will engage the autopilot to help maintain course.

The post South Florida Swordfishing Techniques appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

“That thing looks like a lobster,” I said.

“I feel like we should be eating these shrimp, not the fish,” joked Mike Rice, senior vice president at Quantum.

The live shrimp Capt. Jon Lulay had in his livewell were on steroids. He knows a guy. And that bait guy netted some of the largest shrimp I’ve ever seen on Florida’s Space Coast. Those big shrimp were the key to success on our day’s fishing along a stretch of Indian River Lagoon shoreline. If the shrimp are running at night, that’s what inshore gamefish want, so utilize ‘em during the day.

Anglers in the South Atlantic and Gulf Coast should always be on the lookout for “select” live shrimp in bait shops. It’s like having a cheat code.

“Yes, we catch snook, redfish and seatrout on lures too,” said Lulay. “But large shrimp give you the best shot during a moving tide up against the shoreline. If the tide is flowing, I have confidence fish will eat a live shrimp.”

Jumbo shrimp are a top bait anywhere shrimp runs occur. For example, triple-digit tarpon explode on shrimp in the bridge shadow lines of crowded Miami. Louisiana’s largest red drum suck down shrimp under a popping cork when schooled up in Gulf outer bays. And ferocious speckled trout push shrimp to the surface in Texas shallows, attracting both wade fishermen and birds. 

How to Best Rig a Live Shrimp

For many, a frozen piece of shrimp is the first bait they used when fishing in saltwater. That’s not what I’m talking about here. If it’s dead or frozen, rig a new bait. A shrimp-tipped jig has its place, but not in this setting.

When it comes to pitching the banks for species that lurk near mangroves, oysters or fallen trees, keep it simple. Pick a circle hook sized to the fish species you’re targeting. I like a 4/0 circle hook when targeting trout, reds and snook. Tie 30 inches of fluorocarbon leader to your main line, then tie the leader straight to your hook. No sinkers, split shots or popping corks needed.

“You really have to be able to cast into small windows to get that shrimp in front [of the fish],” said Lulay, of 2 Castaway Fishing Charters. “When anglers come on my boat, they can have wildly different experiences. The anglers who can’t make pinpoint casts catch more jacks, ladyfish and mangrove snapper, while the anglers who are able to reach under the mangroves or next to that log are more likely to catch a snook or seatrout.”

In my mind, fishing with live shrimp is just like skipping a weedless fluke under the trees. We were trying out brand-new Quantum Strive and Benchmark reels, sizes 4000 and 5000, paired with 7-foot Quantum Myth rods. The Benchmark 4000 handles 300 yards of 20-pound braid, with 25 pounds of max drag.

“Going with a light leader is a must,” said Lulay. “You lose some fish, but a light leader allows the live shrimp to swim freely with a light-wire hook. I don’t even start the morning with a heavier leader anymore because I know I’ll be going as light as possible soon enough.”

How to Fish Live Shrimp

Getting that natural presentation is more important than a heavy leader, so we used 25- to 30-pound-test fluorocarbon for most of the morning. Paired with a hook that pokes through the top third of the shrimp’s carapace — stay in front of those dark spots — this is the best way to keep a live shrimp kicking. Hitting the dark spot of a shrimp kills it. So does using too large of a hook, or a hook with too heavy of gauge. A dead shrimp is just not as productive, so we rebaited as necessary.

Cast your bait side-arm under the overhangs; utilize a shorter, stout rod for even better accuracy. Then, let the bait drift with the current, with no tension on the line. If you don’t get bit quickly, work the shrimp slowly like a soft-plastic. Get the bite first, then figure out how to get them to the boat.

When a snook picks up your shrimp, the solid thump is unmistakable. Those first few seconds are always a rush against a tight drag. Our fishing tackle held solid, but sharp snags found our leaders at times. That’s the price you pay for fishing in the jungle. The speckled trout cooperated, but it took a couple of breakoffs from unknown behemoths before we finally landed some lindesiders. Tight drags early on, plus a rod with backbone, helped pull fish out. Once away from the shore, there were also pesky porpoises looking for a free meal.

We had a blast fishing in the morning before the tide quit on us. The action was solid, and Rice and I even cast some baits at rolling tarpon. Common with tarpon during the day, they had no interest in feeding. At one point, I hooked up near a pod of school-size tarpon — nope, it turned out to be another snook. The few boats around us weren’t having much luck.

“They’re probably fishing with live baits like croakers,” explained Lulay. “Those baits can be great sometimes, but they’re not going to outfish a jumbo live shrimp.”

The post Make Mine a Jumbo appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Red drum is a highly sought-after species up and down the Mid-Atlantic seaboard. Many anglers have formed a special bond with redfish in large part because of their willingness to take a baited hook, artificial lure, or fly. Throughout their range, the strong fight of a redfish keeps anglers’ hearts pumping and adrenaline flowing.

Luckily, anglers in North Carolina have access to some of the largest red drum in the world. In August and September, mature “old drum” come inshore to spawn at the mouth of the Pamlico and Neuse rivers before moving off Outer Banks beaches where they can be targeted in October and November. People from all over the country travel to isolated destinations like Cedar Island, Swan Quarter, Ocracoke and Cape Lookout to try to catch and release a “citation” fish. North Carolina’s Saltwater Fishing Tournament, also known as the Citation Program, recognizes exceptional catches of North Carolina’s most popular sport fish. A citation red drum must measure at least 40 inches. The all-tackle world record, a 94-pound, 2-ounce giant, was landed in Cape Hatteras back in 1984.

Historically most old drum were caught by bait fishermen using large pieces of fresh cut mullet or menhaden late in the evening or at night. Anglers can also have success catching huge redfish during the day using a variety of different artificial lures. As the fishery has evolved, it has led to increased fishing pressure and sometimes very finicky fish. Capt. Mitchel Blake, of FishIBX Charters, grew up fishing the area over the past several decades and has seen the changes.

Where to Find Reds

Pamlico Sound is a large body of water with lots of depth transitions and different bottom compositions. There are no real hot spots — what was good yesterday may well be dead water today. Capt. Blake reminds anglers that the fish are always on the move, and they are significantly impacted by boat traffic. Some studies have shown that drum travel more than 25 miles a day, advancing along submerged edges and ledges in different depth ranges searching for bait and preparing to spawn.  

Successful anglers get on the water early to locate them when they are feeding in 2 to 4 feet of water. Sometimes it is obvious, as reds move a lot of water when they are feeding aggressively. Search for pushes and wakes as you move into skinny water; busting mullet and shrimp popping in the shallows are also good indicators of feeding drum in the area. As the day moves on, especially in areas where there is a lot of boat activity, reds tend to move into deeper water. But they can still be found feeding on large schools of menhaden at the surface. It’s the subtle things Capt. Blake sees that keep him on the fish as he slowly dissects the river each day, not the run-and-gun style so prevalent in the age of social media and Internet reports. 

As you approach an area that seems to have the right conditions, stealth is critical to success. Blake’s biggest piece of advice is to slow down and pay attention to the surroundings. Shut off the big motor early, before you push into the zone, and use the trolling motor as sparingly as possible to hold your position. If possible, use the wind to push you within casting range. Don’t just zoom from spot to spot, as you might be running over the fish while you stare at your phone or navigation screen. Things tend to materialize fast, so you want to be ready with several rods rigged with a couple of different offerings.  

Reviving Red Drum After the Fight

For artificials lures, there are several options that work well. I prefer to fish topwater lures, as I can make repetitive long casts with a big surface popper. Walk-the-dog-style lures work well, too. Both choices make great search baits, as they are designed to imitate the sounds of struggling baitfish. When a fish hears the commotion on the surface, they tend to rise and look for an easy meal. Having a big 50-pound redfish explode on a surface lure is about as exciting as it gets. Large popping-cork rigs work well, too, especially if fish seem skittish or are hesitant to eat a surface plug.

We need to do everything we can to care for these fish, as they are the breeding stock for the entire population. Be mindful and use appropriate tackle to land fish quickly, so they do not exhaust themselves during the fight. Tagging data is clear; red drum survive well when released if they are handled properly. Many fish I catch are released without bringing them into the boat, but I admit I love to hold them in my arms for a photo. When landing a fish, never reach into or attempt to support the fish by the gill plate or mouth. Hold them horizontally and support the weight of the fish evenly as you cradle it like a baby in your arms. Have your camera ready beforehand. Enjoy the moment you have with the fish, but return it to the water as quickly as possible.

Spend time reviving the fish after a hard-fought battle. That means forcing water over its gills by inching the boat forward. If fishing in moving water, the water does the work for you, so hold that redfish face-first into the current. Moving a redfish forward and backward in the water doesn’t help much — no matter what the TV shows say. Watching a red drum regain its strength and kick away is rewarding, almost as much as tricking them into biting your topwater.

The post Keys to Catching Carolina’s Red Drum appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

It’s a long way offshore to the Texas rigs, but those who make the trip put up very respectable numbers of blue marlin and yellowfin for the Gulf of Mexico. Consider the results of last summer’s Texas Gulf Coast Billfish Classic. In the tournament’s first year, teams caught 14 blue marlin in three fishing days. The biggest blue, landed by team Synchronicity, weighed 726.3 pounds.

“The marlin seem to move off the Panhandle during the summer and come here,” says Texas offshore legend Dee Wallace, who is the tournament director at Fisherman’s Wharf in Port Aransas. “In late summer, the Domes reef area and the Colt 45 reef come alive with white marlin, sailfish and blue marlin. It’s just a little farther run than other places.”

That is to say, Texas blue marlin fishing isn’t like Tongue-of-the-Ocean in the Bahamas, where you duck out in the morning for the day and get back in the afternoon for drinks at the cabana, nor even like Venice, Louisiana, where pre-dawn departures get you back that night. No, in Texas, boats might leave on a Thursday and return two days later.

“You can cover three or four of the deep rigs in a long one-day trip, but most people go out for a couple of days,” says Wallace. “It’s Iron Man stuff.”

Runs into the Gulf might be 100, 250, 300 miles or more, targeting promising oceanic set-ups at oil rigs, floating platforms and drill ships that act as fish aggregating devices (FADs). It is a high-stakes, boom-or-bust sport, with plenty of tournaments in the summer for those who want to compete for big money. The Texas Gulf Coast Billfish Classic is one of the newest.

“Up and down the Texas coast, a lot of people keep their boats at their own docks,” says Robbie Carter, director of the Texas Gulf Coast Billfish Classic. “We wanted to have a tournament that lets them leave from their docks, wherever their homes are. They go out to the rigs at the tournament’s start Thursday morning and don’t have to return until Saturday afternoon. It’s a marathon. This year we’ll have two weigh-in locations, Surfside and Port Aransas. There’s catch-and-release divisions, too, and we use Starlink for live scoring by video and updates.” After a delay from Hurricane Beryl, this year’s Texas Gulf Coast Billfish Classic is set for Aug. 15-17. Other upcoming tournaments include the Texas International Fishing Tournament (July 31- Aug. 4 at Port Isabel) and the Texas Legends Billfish Tournament (Aug. 7-11 at Port Aransas).

Technology has Changed Marlin Fishing

“The days of pointing your bow offshore looking for rips and slicks are over,” says Tom Hilton, owner of Hilton’s, the fishing charts and services company. “Now, with these deep-water rigs all within range of sport fishers, and with the technology, these fishermen are checking all their charts and understanding not only where to go fish, but just as importantly, where not to go fish. The key to using charts is to find the area where you have the most overlapping favorable conditions.

“Seakeeper, omni sonar, Starlink, and what I’ve designed with Sat2Nav with our charts and also with Roff’s, all of it has changed how people fish,” Hilton continues. “Also, the introduction of more deepwater floating platforms, known as SPARs (single point anchor reservoir), has increased offshore destinations. Also, live baiting with small tunas and rainbow runners has radically changed strategies. People still pull plastic, but live baits are bringing in a lot of big marlin.”

More Texas Deepwater FADs Coming Soon

Because it is so far offshore, Texas billfishing and tuna fishing might not be as well known as other Gulf locations out of Florida’s Panhandle, Venice, and Biloxi, Mississippi, but that may soon change. Tom Hilton and his colleagues have been organizing deployment of fish aggregating devices (FADs), and Hilton says he’s close to getting approval for installation, which would change Texas offshore fishing entirely.

“Alex Fogg of Okaloosa County in Florida worked hard to install deep water FADs off the Panhandle, and it’s been a resounding success,” Hilton says. “Those were the first ‘legal’ FADs ever deployed in U.S. waters. There’s white marlin, blue marlin, sailfish, and all kinds of species are attracted to those FADs.”

Hilton has 14 FADs ready for deployment from 60 to 80 miles offshore in waters 1,100 to 1,600 feet deep. The project is a collaboration between Hilton Marine, the Houston Big Game Fishing Club and the Gulf Research Institute for Highly Migratory Species.

“These FADS would bring bluewater fishing in range to a lot more center consoles and charter boats off the Texas coast, among other benefits,” Hilton says. “Right now, we’re mired in red tape, but it’s going to be big once we get them out there.”

Another Option is Texas Inshore Fishing

For those not quite suited to the rarified air of Texas oil rig fishing, either by temperament or finances, Texas fortunately has a rich estuary system with vast and varied options for beach, bay and backcountry fishing. Major bay systems include the Laguna Madre in the south, Matagorda Bay on the central coast, and Galveston Bay south of Houston. Smaller bays like Aransas Bay and Corpus Christi Bay add more wading and boating locations. On the ocean side, beaches, piers and jetties see clean, green water in summer, with redfish, Spanish mackerel, flounder and seatrout along the shores and surf.

Capt. Charlie Paradoski has fished the Texas bay system for close to 50 years, focusing on Matagorda Bay for the last three decades, both by wade fishing and boat. Matagorda Bay covers more than 350 square miles, so there’s a lot of fishy structure to get to know. Among other species, West Matagorda Bay is known for summer tripletail fishing. Paradoski also takes to the beaches when the surf is right, and there’s nothing more beautiful than sunrise over a big Texas beach.

“People like to come down and catch seatrout, and the slot limit is now between 15 and 20 inches, but most of the fish we catch are over 20 inches,” Paradoski says. “The bag limit is three trout, and as much as people don’t like that lower limit, it’s a good thing for the resource and the future to ensure good fishing.”

As good as the fishing in summer can be, it’s even better when the water cools. “October through February, that’s when the fishing gets easy,” he says. “Redfish, flounder, seatrout, they love that cooler water.” Texas coastal fishing is nearly endless, consistently productive and highly accessible. Vehicles can even be driven onto some beaches, like part of Matagorda Beach. Waders and kayak anglers can drop into stunning sight fishing with ease. Perhaps best of all, many locations along the coast still feel as if they belong to the wild. That’s a privilege worth preserving, and Texas anglers know it.

The post Can’t Miss Blue Marlin Fishing in Texas appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

“I think that oysters are the answer. It’s one of the tangible things that we can do to improve water quality,” says Toadfish founder and CEO Casey Davidson. The company started the “Put ‘Em Back” movement to help clean waterways by replanting and replenishing oyster habitats throughout the country; often with the aid of a water cannon. How cool is that?

Davidson is right about the impact of shellfish on water quality. A single oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water a day, which helps remove harmful toxins that work their way into waterways through runoff. This benefits everything oysters share the water with, including the vegetation that holds the marsh together and species of fish skinny-water anglers love so much. Oyster reefs also provide valuable structure for baitfish and predators alike.

There’s a few ways that oysters are sent back into the water. One involves a barge and a water cannon, which broadcasts them over a large area. The other is community-based, with volunteers placing oysters in mesh bags lining them up along the bank. Typically, they are placed atop a wooden pallet to keep them from sinking into the mud. Other regions construct wire cages for the shells, which help build reefs.

To date, Toadfish has participated in oyster projects in eight coastal states. That amounts to 280,214 square feet of oysters planted and counting, which clean a staggering 82 million gallons of water each day. Want to help? Contribute by purchasing their products. Since their founding in 2016, Toadfish has donated 5 percent of profits to oyster recycling programs and other conservation initiatives. So far, the total amount of their donations has topped $500,000.

The post Conservation: Toadfish’s Oyster Rehabilitation Work appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Like any sport, you can spend as much as you want gearing up for your next saltwater battle. However, northeast striper ace Blaine Anderson said the summer months offer plenty of opportunity for anglers with even modest tackle to engage one the region’s premier sport fish.

“It’s easy fishing and there’s a low barrier to entry,” Anderson said of the warm season’s incredible action. “They’re aggressive fish and you can catch them all summer long.”

The striper show abounds throughout this renowned region, with perennial favorites like Block Island (Rhode Island), Fishers Island (New York), Plum Island (Massachusetts) and countless reef systems such as Connecticut’s Bartlett Reef. Where current swirls through rock structure, Anderson expects his prime opportunities.

“Any of the reefs in 15 feet or less will produce, but a boat with a trolling motor will allow you to get in shallow,” Anderson said. “I’ll get in there as shallow as 3 to 4 feet. You have to be careful, because there are a lot of big boulders, but that’s what’s holding the stripers there.”

No doubt, the shallowest of these rocky minefields demand respect, so proceed with caution. Often, the reward more than justifies the effort. Just know that the attraction is all about feeding. Bunker (menhaden) and other forage are no match for the ocean’s might, but stripers are built for this.

“It’s a lot like trout in a river or a stream; the stripers will be in the eddy behind a boulder waiting for something to come by,” Anderson said. “They’re really powerful swimmers, so they don’t mind the current, but the bait is very vulnerable and they’re going to be swept across [the boulder field] and they’re at the mercy of the current at that time.

“Somedays, you may not see the bait, but other days, it may be all over and the stripers will be blowing up. It will change from one day to the next, but they will always be on the reefs and the more bait there is, the more active they are.”

Best Time to Fish for Stripers

Anderson said the fish will feed in practically any summer conditions, but he likes a calm, overcast day — maybe even a little fog. It’s as much a mood thing as it is a fishing thing, but the ambiance is undeniable.

“Everything is so quiet; you can hear fish blow up from a distance,” Anderson said. “With calm water, I think the fish can hear the rattles in your (artificial) baits, so they can home in on it a little easier.

As for time of day, Anderson calls summer striper fishing a 24/7 adrenaline rush.

“Back in the day, when I was guiding, it didn’t matter what the weather was doing or what the tides were — we’d fish from 5 a.m. until 11,” Anderson said. “You can catch them at high noon, with not a cloud in the sky, but I prefer the low light of early morning, because you’re often the first one on your spot.

“A lot of boats can put the fish down, but if you get out there first, you can go really slow and quiet with the trolling motor and catch several before anyone gets out there.”

Lures and Tackle for Striped Bass

For simplicity and undeniable fish appeal, Anderson said it’s hard to beat a big 7- to 9-inch topwater walker. His preference, the Shimano Current Sniper Splash Walk in bone white or bunker.

“The topwater bites are explosive, but even if the fish are not being aggressive, those big topwaters will still call them up,” Anderson said. “After that, you can adjust to subsurface baits. These big topwater baits allow you to cover lot of water, but the nice thing about the Splash Walk is that with sharp rod twitches, you can almost walk it in place. You’re really only turning the handle of the reel to take the slack out of the line.

“Some days they want it a little different. Sometimes you’ll twitch it and let it sit there and they’ll come up and smash it on the pause. But if there are big fish around, you’re going to know it.”

Blaine Anderson’s Tackle Preferences: A 7-foot, 6-inch medium-heavy Shimano Terramar XX Southeast spinning rod with a Shimano Twinpower XD 4000 reel carrying 50-pound PowerPro Super Slick V2 braid and a 30- to 50-pound fluorocarbon leader.

“They’re not really line shy, but I’ll start with 4- to 5-foot leader, because as I change lures throughout the day, that leader gets shorter and shorter,” Anderson said. “For hook set and for pulling them out of boulder fields, this is a good setup.”

When he’s not finding the topwater action, one of Anderson’s go-tos is a jerkbait based on forage size. Top colors are herring, bone white, and white with colored spots. Another option is a large soft plastic twitchbait like a Lunker City Slug-Go or a Zoom Super Fluke. Anderson suggests rigging these baits on 4/0 to 5/0 belly-weighted hooks (or jig heads heavy enough for the water’s depth).

Live Bait Fishing for Striped Bass

Complementing the lures, many Northeast stripers are caught on natural baits. Anderson says live eels are a Block Island favorite — especially after dark. Castnet a bunch of 12- to 14-inch bunker and you can catch stripers just about anywhere.

“The easiest way is to live line them on circle hooks in the same areas as you’d throw the topwaters,” Anderson said. “In deeper current areas, you’ll fish bunker on 3-way rigs with a heavy weight on the bottom. The trick is to keep it down and some days, you’ll need 16-ounce weights.”

Scup (aka porgies) also tempt stripers, but stow the castnet and catch these hardy bottom dwellers on hook and line. A dropper-style rig baited with squid or chunks of sand worm will deliver the goods. Then, rig scup on a bottom 3-way rig.

“If we’re live lining with no weight, I like to get up shallow and let the baits swim around the boulders,” Anderson said. “About 100 feet away is good, so when you hook up, you can change the angle on them to fight the fish out of the boulder field. With the 3-way rigs, the more vertical you can be the better. I like to fish live baits more up and down.”

Blaine Anderson’s Tackle Preferences: For live lining, a 7-foot, 6-inch medium-heavy Shimano Teramar XX Northeast casting rod with a Shimano Trinidad 12 or 14 reel spooled with 50-pound PowerPro Super Slick V2 braid. For 3-way rigging, a 7-foot medium-heavy casting rod with a Shimano Torium reel spooled with 50-pound PowerPro Super Slick V2 braid.

“If you’re going to be 3-way rigging, make sure your rod is stout enough to support the weight of whatever size sinker you’re using and still have enough backbone to fight the fish,” Anderson said. “You don’t want to strap a 16-ounce sinker on and watch the rod fully load before you get your bait in the water.”

However you engage summer stripers, Anderson describes the proper fighting style as a blend of patience and persistence. Summarily: Even pressure.

“I think the most common mistake is when people get excited and they’re pulling back on the rod too quickly so it’s fully loaded,” Anderson said. “When they make a couple of cranks and drop the rod tip, that rod is unloading and that’s when the hook ends up pulling. I like to have the same pressure on the rod whether I’m pulling on the fish or reeling down on the fish. The angle of the rod never changes.”

The post Northeast Summer Striper Tactics appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Braid Main Line to Leader

For anglers after a strength of 90 to 100 percent of the braided line’s break point, I recommend either an improved bristol using a Bimini twist, an FG knot, or a PR bobbin knot. Some knots are easier to tie than others.

Braid Main Line to Terminal Gear

To circumvent a leader and tie directly to lure, hook or swivel, the venerable palomar gets the nod for both simplicity and strength.

Mono to Hook or Swivel

Since mono is so much “stickier” than braid, several knots work fine, notably the palomar or that old favorite, the double clinch. When connecting to a lure, most experts prefer some form of loop knot, allowing free movement.

Braid to Braid Splice

Why? At some point, you’ll lose a bunch of line and need to top off 50 or 100 yards. I’ve done well by tying a Bimini twist in each end, then putting them together with a twice- or thrice-around loop-to-loop knot.

Read Next: Proven Knots for Inshore and Offshore Lures

Braid to a Spool Arbor

Use any of several arbor knots. Here’s a trick, especially with light braid. With a small piece of masking tape, tape down the arbor knot tight to the spool or else it will slip and never tighten under the line.

The post Five Knots to Know for Backcountry Fishing appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.